Meleagris gallopavo.
Sp. Char. The naked skin of the head and neck is blue; the excrescences purplish-red. The legs are red. The feathers of the neck and body generally are very broad, abruptly truncate, and each one well defined and scale-like; the exposed portion coppery-bronze, with a bright coppery reflection in some lights, in the specimens before us chiefly on the under parts. Each feather is abruptly margined with velvet-black, the bronze assuming a greenish or purplish shade near the line of junction, and the bronze itself sometimes with a greenish reflection in some lights. The black is opaque, except along the extreme tip, where there is a metallic gloss. The feathers of the lower back and rump are black, with little or no copper gloss. The feathers of the sides behind, and the coverts, upper and under, are of a very dark purplish-chestnut, with purplish-metallic reflections near the end, and a subterminal bar of black; the tips are of the opaque purplish-chestnut referred to. The concealed portion of the coverts is dark chestnut barred rather finely with black; the black wider than the interspaces. The tail-feathers are dark brownish-chestnut, with numerous transverse bars of black, which, when most distinct, are about a quarter of an inch wide and about double their interspaces; the extreme tip for about half an inch is plain chestnut, lighter than the ground-color; and there is a broad subterminal bar of black about two inches wide on the outer feathers, and narrowing to about three quarters of an inch to the central ones. The innermost pair scarcely shows this band, and the others are all much broken and confused. In addition to the black bars on each feather, the chestnut interspaces are sprinkled with black. The black bands are all most distinct on the inner webs; the interspaces are considerably lighter below than above.
There are no whitish tips whatever to the tail or its coverts. The feathers on the middle of the belly are downy, opaque, and tipped obscurely with rusty whitish.
The wing-coverts are like the back; the quills, however, are blackish-brown, with numerous transverse bars of white, half the width of the interspaces. The exposed surfaces of the wing, however, and most of the inner secondaries, are tinged with brownish-rusty, the uppermost ones with a dull copper or greenish gloss.
The female differs in smaller size, less brilliant colors, absence generally of bristles on the breast and of spur, and a much smaller fleshy process above the base of the bill.
Male. Length, 48.00 to 50.00; extent, 60.00; wing, 21.00; tail, 18.50. Weight, 16 to 35 lbs. Female. Weight about 12 lbs.; measurements smaller in proportion.
Hab. Eastern Province of the United States, and Canada. West along the timbered river-valleys towards the Rocky Mountains; south to the Gulf coast.
There is some question as to the names to be applied to the two races of Northern Meleagris, and especially as to which is entitled to bear the name of gallopavo. The original description of M. gallopavo quotes the New England Turkey as described by Ray, but as far as the characters given go refers rather to the domestic form, which is equivalent to M. mexicana of Gould. In this state of the case we therefore think it as well to use gallopavo for the eastern race, although the arguments of Major Leconte and others in favor of applying it to the wild Mexican, and its derivative the domestic variety, are not without much weight.
Habits. The Wild Turkey is found throughout eastern North America, from South Carolina northward, and from the Atlantic to Texas and Arkansas. It has probably become an extinct species in New England, though within a few years individuals have been shot in Montague, Mass., and in other towns in Franklin County. The construction of railroads, however, and the settlement of the country, have probably led to their final extermination; at least, I have known of none being taken within the limits of Massachusetts for several years.